I analyze both CEO inside debt and firm debt jointly to further investigate the compensation incentives on risky decision-making and the resulting financial policy decisions concerning the debt structure of the firm. I find larger firms with high CEO inside debt tend to diversify, as calculated...

We examine whether criminal records of CEOs and rank-and-file employees are associated with firms’ likelihood of bankruptcy and whether lenders adjust their required cost of debt accordingly. We use a nationwide sample of private firms and criminal registers covering all firm employees. We...

Theory posits that managerial holdings of debt (“inside debt”) align managers' incentives with those of outside debtholders. Executive pensions, which consist of ERISA-qualified rank-and-file (RAF) plans and Supplemental Executive Retirement Plans (SERPs), and other deferred compensation...

In this paper, we adapt a continuous-time agency model to incorporate the loss-aversion preferences of agents. To this end, by distinguishing between the gains in capital and income driven by variations in the agent's continuation payoff, we provide a theoretical model which overcomes the...

Investment and financing decisions are especially important in a family firm context, as family and business dynamics interact to produce unique behaviors that may affect these decisions. However, research on how the family nature of these firms shapes their investment and financing preferences...

Previous studies argue that takeover targets’ CEOs can use high leverage as a signal for commitment to undertaking value-enhancing projects, thus deterring the takeover attempts since the bankruptcy risk associated with high leverage can serve as an effective governance mechanism. This paper...

We propose a dynamic version of the dividend discount model, solve it in closed-form, and assess its empirical validity. The valuation method is tractable and can be easily implemented. We find that our model produces equity value forecasts that are very close to market prices, and explains a...

We examine the association between customer concentration and capital structure adjustment speed using a sample of listed firms in the U.S from 1977 to 2020. We find that the customer-concentrated firms have a lower speed of leverage adjustment. The decomposition of customer types identifies...

This paper shows that, with pre-set price and capital decisions of firms facing uncertainty and credit rationing, price, mark up and the expected degree of capacity utilization (resp. capital) increases (resp. decreases) with the firm internal net worth

This paper examines the determinants of the outcomes of the default recovery process. We find that a new variable that incorporates not only the percentage of debt more senior to the debt instrument, but also debt at the same rank, is the most important factor driving the recovery rate. It is...